We have had a great Christmas so far, although last night I was surprised it was Christmas Eve and didn't have much Christmas spirit. It's not so much that I didn't feel generous, it just didn't feel like Christmas to me.

We watched "A Christmas Carol" with Jim Carrey on Netflix and that helped a little. My mom was over for dinner and we talked about it. I realized we had missed every weekend at church all month long. Between funerals, relatives and grandparents, we just hadn't made it to church; so we never got ourselves folded into the Christmas spirit with being a part of the lighting of the Advent Wreath. I really missed it.

Our church is big on mental preparation of events; this year's themes each week being: wait, hope, dream, embrace. It really does set the stage for the "reason for the season."

I did feel more in the Christmas spirit as we sat in midnight mass last night. So I have caught up in a way. But I'll make sure next year mass is a priority.

Yesterday, after opening presents with my family, one kid went to play her new Wii game, the other went to do some drawing, my husband decided it was a Christmas gift to have a sunny day to fix the brakes on my car, and I wrote a column about a Christmas past and our Christmas present (no pun intended, but it works). Here it is for you to enjoy. Merry Christmas to my faithful readers!